2004 Summary Meme

[qos]

via _storyteller_

1. What did you do in 2004 that you'd never done before?
Started meeting with a spiritual director.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I can't even remember what my new year's resolutions were last year.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.

5. What countries did you visit?
None.

6. What would you like to have in 2005 that you lacked in 2004?
Lots of creative energy.

7. What date from 2004 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Learning my father has Parkinsons.
Seeing my daughter's startling performance on stage for the first time.
The day I had an emotional breakdown during a gaming session.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Creation of the newsletter for my division.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not maintaining any real kind of exercise routine.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nothing major.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My purple comfy couch.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My daughter is a sweet, caring, helpful little girl. I am constantly amazed by her generous nature.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
President Bush

14. Where did most of your money go?
Most of it went to the basics: rent, insurance, food, debt, etc.
Most of the discretionary money went for movie stills, books and DVDs.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The ROTK extended edition -- which, unfortunately, turned out to be a disappointment.
How well I'm doing in school.
The positive feedback on the newsletter at work.
The process of consciously re-conceiving my mythic/archetypal paradigms.

16. What song will always remind you of 2004?
"Defying Gravity" from the Wicked soundtrack.

Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I'm through with playing by
The rules of someone else's game
Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes
And leap...

It's time to try Defying Gravity
I think I'll try Defying Gravity
And you can't pull me down


17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Happier
ii. thinner or fatter? Thinner
iii. richer or poorer? Richer

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Working out
Writing

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Playing Alchemy, spending money on eBay, mindless websurfing

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Spending Christmas Eve with my parents, daughter and raptures_shadow at my parents' house. Christmas morning alone at my house while my daughter is upstairs with her father and his family.
"Alone" is not a bad thing. I'll sleep in, then enjoy some quiet time.

22. Did you fall in love in 2004?
No.

23. How many one-night stands?
None.

24. What was your favorite TV program?
I don't watch TV these days, except the programs that my daughter watches. This year I enjoyed watching the DVD's of Firefly.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No.

26. What was the best book you read?
The Kushiel trilogy by Jacqueline Carey.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
The Wicked soundtrack -- for which I have to thank the divine ladyvivien, and Eliza Gilkyson, courtesy of soul sister queenofhalves.

28. What did you want and get?
A real, full-time, salary-plus-benefits job.
A licensed replica of Arwen's sword.

29. What did you want and not get?
My full creativity back.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
National Treasure was the only new film I saw more than once.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
On my 40th birthday I took a vacation day and watched the extended edition of ROTK. A few days later, I had a much quieter and lower-key party than I had originally intended.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Being able to finish my novel.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2004?
Student casual

34. What kept you sane?
To be honest: my LJ friends community. It's been wonderful to be able to share so much here, and to receive unfailing support, encouragement, counsel, affirmation, commiseration, and shared silliness.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Viggo Mortensen

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
The Iraq war -- although to call it "a political issue" isn't quite accurate, since it is far more than that.

37. Who did you miss?
My friend Bill, with whom I have not had a lot of contact since we ceased to be business partners.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
My boss, Jeannie.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2004:
That taking responsibility for my own emotions and reactions goes a long way toward improving a difficult relationship.

40. Quote a song lyric that describes the past year:
See "Defying Gravity" above

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_storyteller_/]

Wicked is awesome.

"A licensed replica of Arwen's sword."

That rox my sox. strandsofchaos made a digital copy of all the swords for the Neverwinter nights mod he runs. But I can say that her sword is my favorite of the swords in the movie, followed by Sting. I have always had a soft spot for short swords.

[qos.livejournal.com]

Since it's *you* making this comment, I'll confess that I didn't get it because it's "Arwen's Sword" -- although you're right that it's a very beautiful blade, and the replica has a nice heft to it. I bought it because last summer, in an effort to try to jump-start my creativity, I piggy-backed on LOTR and wrote myself into the story. I tried very hard not to be a "Mary Sue" -- the ultra-perfect writer's avatar who plagues so much fanfic. To me, it's the shortcomings, challenges and struggles of characters (including my own) that are interesting.

Anyway, in the course of the story I found myself receiving an elven sword called Melinlas, which I translated as Sword of the Eastern Wind. It was in the course of writing that story that I found the phrase about being a sage which recently set off a deep set of transitions in my psyche related to this new mythic paradigm process I've been going through.

So it's not Hadhafang that's on my mantel now, it's Melinlas.

I have to admit that I'm a hopeless fangirl, I do try to be unique and creative about it.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_storyteller_/]

That just makes it even cooler that you have it. Taking something like that, investing energy into it and making it your own is really something of power. Your sword now isn't just a movie sword, it is an item of power with it's own history and destiny.

You never cease to amaze me.

I have never done LOTR fanfic, but I have been part of a Robert Jordan Fanfic club online for almost 8 years now.

[qos.livejournal.com]

You never cease to amaze me.

*blush* Thank you.

I've never read any of Robert Jordan's work. What is it about that mythos that speaks to you?

[http://users.livejournal.com/_storyteller_/]

The social-political dynamics are very fun. The idea that we don't always quiet understand history the way we should and the problems that can create. He created an entire magical mythos that he created it beautiful, the concept of male and female halves of the source with the male half being tainted and cursed.

I love the factions, from his portrayal of soldiers on the battlefield to his concepts of enlightened ruler ship. (Robert Jordan is a Vietnam vet along with being a huge history buff). The language he create is amazing, to the point that it's been broken down by linguists and seems to remain internally consistent, very similar to JRT Elvish language from LOTR.

The entire world within the thousands of pages he's written is inspiring in its own right, It begged me to live within it, like nothing else I have ever read or seen. Te effect of WOT on me is very similar to the way some people feel about Star Wars or LOTR.

The Aasha'man in particular speak to me as a group more then anything, they overall are my favorite part of the series. They are the male users of the mystical source, cursed by their power to eventual insanity and complete corruption. Knowing their eventual fall to taint will be complete, they throw themselves without fear or caution into training and combat. Most seek to die in the service of the light before the darkness can ever take them. Where the Aes Sedai (the Female source users) can use the source in a variety of ways and do so very carefully, the Asha'man train only for what will aid them in combat and they constantly do things that most Aes Sedai would never accept as being healthy. The male/female sexual dynamics are played up a lot. And there are several excellent female archetypes presented in the story that run the gamut of roles. The characters all interact within the story well and lend themselves openly to fan service.

overall the story is still being told, RJ plans to keep writing until he is dead, and the series for Wheel of Time, originally slotted for 13 books, is now on its 11th and only 3/4s of the way done by the estimate of most fans, RJ says now that the story will last as long as it has to.

Wow that wound up being quite long.

[qos.livejournal.com]

They are the male users of the mystical source, cursed by their power to eventual insanity and complete corruption. Knowing their eventual fall to taint will be complete, they throw themselves without fear or caution into training and combat. Most seek to die in the service of the light before the darkness can ever take them.

I've never been remotely interested in Robert Jordan. I often have a somewhat perverse reaction against wildly popular 'things' be they books, movies, or whatever. And the long cycle of huge books has made me feel cynical about what's going on. Is it a real story, or a money-making machine? But your description above is fascinating, and reason enough for me to try the series. Which book is first in the series?

the Asha'man train only for what will aid them in combat and they constantly do things that most Aes Sedai would never accept as being healthy

This resonates with our discussion on warrior archetypes and ethics (not surprisingly, given the importance of this series to you). It's one of the things I try to deal with in Occupation as well: how do you interact in a positive way with someone whose existence is very difference from your own, and whose ethics and honor are as high as your own but demand very different decisions and deeds?

Occupation also has been fun with the political-religious details. I tried very hard to create systems which were valid in their own right, but had aspects which could also be seen validly as negative by outsiders. There are no "villains" in my book, only people with different agendas, from different cultures, each trying to do their best in sometimes impossible conditions. Sometimes with tragic consequences for themselves or others.

More WOT of time Geekdom then you can poke with a spork.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_storyteller_/]

I have an adverse reaction to most commercial things myself. Which is similar in some ways to the way you feel. I am somewhat happy in the fact that just as many people hate RJ as love him. Some people can’t stand his work.
In a lot of ways, if RJ wanted to make money, he could do it a lot of other ways, but I see your point in saying this.

He just wrote a prequel (one of three) New Spring. This is a book that covers some of the history and background of a small handful of characters (that exist in the cycle also) before the larger cycle begins.

The first book in the Cycle is the Eye of the World. Which deals with the beginning for the three Ta’avern (fatetouched, or people who are born to affect the lives of others, there are different strengths of Ta’avern and the three largest characters in the book are the three most powerful Ta’avern to ever exist all born this generation into a small town the back woods of the world.)
The Three are Perrin, Mat and Rand who in this story and the next are just young men. One of the things I like is how each of them grow over the course of the books. One of them even dies.

The second book is The Great Hunt: A book I skipped when I first read the series. It details a series of adventures that the three have and details the stage of the larger world that exists.

The Dragon Reborn: This is the third book in the series and in my opinion it is were the series really really takes off and becomes imposiable to put down.
The Shadow Rising: Introduces the Aeil (meaning “the dedicated”) who are my second favorite faction in the series behind the Asha’man. This is also the book where Rand pardons all male chanellers and allows for the eventual creation of the Asha’man.

The Fires of Heaven
The best book in the series.

After that, things just continue. If you read through the first 5 or even just 3,4,5 you will be hooked. If you pick them up and can’t stand his style or contend with the thousands of characters he places on the pages, then it’s a lost cause.


“”Occupation also has been fun with the political-religious details. I tried very hard to create systems which were valid in their own right, but had aspects which could also be seen validly as negative by outsiders. There are no "villains" in my book, only people with different agendas, from different cultures, each trying to do their best in sometimes impossible conditions. Sometimes with tragic consequences for themselves or others.””

This is something I both agree with and respect.

[gothic-coop.livejournal.com]

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No.

I guess I am not close enough

[qos.livejournal.com]

I was taking the question literally, Coop. If *you* had given birth, I would have responded "yes" -- but I barely know your wife.

[gothic-coop.livejournal.com]

LOL I get you. I was just poking fun ;)

[qos.livejournal.com]

Oh, good!
I thought that I had hurt your feelings, and was regretting that.
How are things going at home these days? What does Ariel think of the baby?

[gothic-coop.livejournal.com]

Oh no I understand what you saying.

Home is going alright, still learning what baby needs. We are learning her so we can do a better job with her. Ary LOVES baby sister. She reads to her and plays with her. She loves that she sits in the back seat with her and takes care of her in the car. She also got to feed her for the first time last night because we got a breast pump for mom.

[queenofhalves]

*hug*

so glad you sent me "defying gravity" -- totally love it too. and happy you liked the eliza gilkyson so much. :>

[justbeast.livejournal.com]

What is your novel about?

How much does it cost to see a spiritual director?

[qos.livejournal.com]

In terms of plot, my novel, Occupation, is about what happens when a mercenary regiment captures and occupies a small but prosperous community during a civil war in a late medieval culture. The central character is the young noblewoman left in charge when her father went off to war. It's a classic romance novel set piece, and I started playing with the scenario specifically to turn it as upside-down and inside-out as I could.

In deeper terms, the story is about growing up, about various forms of power, and how a person can claim, exercise, resist or lose it; family legacy; religion and faith -- and what happens when different belief systems come into conflict in a small community; the various relationships possible between men and women; warrior culture and ethics; sacrifice; honor; sovereignty; fealty; friendship.

Cost to meet with a spiritual director varies. Many have sliding scales, from between $25-80 for a 60-90 minute session. Members of a religious community may receive direction free of charge if the director is already being supported by the congregation or parish. My director has a sliding scale. I pay $40 for 90 minutes a month.